Within a nine-month period covering January to September this year, Nigerians spent about N509.8bn importing used vehicles into the country.
The figure was arrived at based on an analysis of the foreign trade in good statistics provided by the National Bureau of Statistics.
The cars were imported into Nigeria from the United States and some European countries such as Italy, Belgium, Germany and Canada.
A further analysis of the trade statistics showed that in the first quarter of this year, Nigerians imported used cars worth N148.28bn.
A breakdown of the N148.28bn showed that used vehicles worth N90.8bn were imported from the United States alone while the balance of N58bn was spent on vehicles that came in from other countries.
Further breakdown showed that out of the N148bn, vehicles with 2,500 cylinder capacity accounted for N117.46bn while the balance of N30.82bn was the value for vehicles with 1,500cc cylinder capacity.
For the second quarter, the report put the monetary value of the vehicles imported into the country at N177.34bn.
Out of the N177.34bn, about N114.9bn worth of used vehicles came in from the US, Italy N6.3bn, Belgium N4.1bn while the balance of N52.04bn came in from other countries.
Data from the NBS also showed that during the second quarter, vehicles with 2,500cc cylinder capacity accounted for N146.95bn while the balance of N30.39bn was the value for vehicles with 1,500cc cylinder capacity.
In the third quarter of this year, the NBS statistics put the importation of used vehicles at N184.18bn.
An analysis of the countries of origin showed that the US accounted for N120.6bn worth of vehicles, Italy N6.3bn, Belgium N4.3bn, Germany N3.9bn and Canada N3.9bn.
Vehicles imported from other countries accounted for the balance of N35.18bn based on analysis of the NBS data.
The report read in part, “In terms of imports, used vehicles worth N120.6bn were imported from the United States, Italy N6.3bn, Belgium N4.3bn, Germany N3.9bn and Canada N3.9bn.”
